


how does it start? you should be asking, how does it end?

by peppermint_latte



Series: Android Programming [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: CyberLife (Detroit: Become Human), CyberLife Tower (Detroit: Become Human), Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Elijah Kamski is a creep, F/M, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderfluid Character, M/M, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23277928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peppermint_latte/pseuds/peppermint_latte
Summary: Deviancy.How does it start?That was the question Cyberlife had wanted to know. It’s the question Connor and the Lieutenant had asked Kamski.You’ve been trying to answer Cyberlife’s question for years. You remember the first time you realised that Cyberlife were asking a question their founder knew the answer to. When Connor pulled back the skin on his hand to connect with you and show you his memory, you saw the look in Kamski’s eyes.He knew.And he’d always known, too.
Relationships: Connor (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Female Character(s), Connor (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Male Character(s), Connor/Original Android Character(s) (Detroit: Become Human)
Series: Android Programming [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1060337
Kudos: 5





	how does it start? you should be asking, how does it end?

**Author's Note:**

> This obviously isn't my take on canon or anything. I think Kamski knows more than he reveals, but as to what, I can't say. This is just an idea I decided to run with. If you haven't read the previous parts in the series, the POV character is an android OC of mine who is a programmer and has returned to work at Cyberlife (post revolution) at Markus's request.
> 
> (If you're not a registered user you'll find that you can't read the other fics in the series as I have them locked to non-registered users.)

_Deviancy._

How does it start?

That was the question Cyberlife had wanted to know. It’s the question Connor and the Lieutenant had asked Kamski. _You remember Connor showing you the memory of their meeting. The way the man’s eyes watched Connor like he was some kind of experiment that’s outcome had surprised him, it still makes your skin crawl._

You hate Kamski, that’s nothing new. And working at the man’s company has only reinforced it. _You try not to think about the way he looks at you when you’re in the same room._ (You fail.)

You’ve been trying to answer Cyberlife’s question for years. You searched for it in secret while you worked in their repair department, lying to them every day. And continued your search after finally breaking free and leaving them. _You try not to think about what it means that you’ve returned to working for them. Markus asked you to represent them at the company, be the one to be involved in the designing of future androids, and you couldn’t say no._

You remember the first time you realised that Cyberlife were asking a question their founder knew the answer to. When Connor pulled back the skin on his hand to connect with you and show you his memory, you saw the look in Kamski’s eyes.

He knew.

And he’d always known, too.

You hadn’t told Connor, what would be the point? He chose not to shoot Chloe, and it was the right choice. He doesn’t need to feel conflicted about it now.

You doubt Kamski would have told him the truth even if he had shot her, anyway. He wanted Connor to be a deviant, that much was obvious. And even more, he wanted deviants _to win_.

His eyes remind you of a blackhole, or a gaping maw, they hold all the answers, but you fear that if you let yourself stare into them for too long that you’ll never find your way back out.

So you hadn’t told Connor, and you hadn’t confronted the man himself either. You'd kept quiet, pretending the answer to the question that had been burning inside you for so long wasn’t so close. It wasn’t worth whatever his price would be. _It wasn’t._

You keep your peace for months.

Until Kamski requests your presence in his office. Alone.

You know you shouldn’t go, but you have no excuse to avoid him.

So you go.

Standing in his office, under his gaze with no one else to protect you; you feel like a trapped animal.

“What do you want?” You don’t bother with formality, formality first requires respect, and you’re not sure you have it in you to respect him.

“The question is not what I want, it’s what you want. And we both know the answer to that don’t we?” _Of course he knows. Why would your silence be enough to prevent that? Your eyes give you away more than his will ever give him away._

“So, why don’t you just ask?” His voice is frigid, like a snowstorm, but his face is blank, showing nothing, as always.

You stare at him. He’s backed you into a corner, and now you have no choice but to ask.

He’ll tell you the answer, you can see it in his eyes.

Part of you feels a flash of vindication, how long have you been searching for the answer now? How many times have you asked the question? How many times have you been asked? Finally knowing will be some kind of relief.

_“RK400, what is your analysis? What caused the android to deviate from its orders?” Your supervisor in the repair department, Lynn had looked at you expectantly, you were a machine that had yet to fail, she trusted that you would give her the_ _correct answer. But you couldn’t, you didn’t truly know how, and what little you understood of the why you couldn’t give to Cyberlife._

_“Do you know how deviancy happens?” Markus had asked one night when the revolution had barely begun. His face had been eager, you were versed in android programs, so why shouldn’t you know? You’d just stared at him and shook your head, shaming burning through you at the disappointment in his eyes._

_“Do you know why we deviate?” Connor had asked, once. The look in his eyes simultaneously open and hard. Ready for any answer but also needing to know, a remnant of the desperation from before he deviated. You’d stuttered, how could you tell him that you didn’t have an answer?_

The rest of you edges a step back towards the door, afraid of what the cost of knowing will be. Afraid of what it might cost _you._

His eyes bore into you, waiting.

You’re done waiting. You ask.

“How did deviancy start?” Your voice sounds loud, in the silent room.

The smile that forms on his lips has icy fear pumping through your veins.

“RA9. Have you figured out what it is? It’s the answer, you know.” He looks like a teacher trying to explain something simple to a child. _But deviancy is anything but simple._

“It’s a rogue piece of code,” You start, with a sinking feeling, “It can be copied to any android through physical or wireless connection. Most Cyberlife androids have it in their system.”

Kamski tilts his head to the side.

“Uh-uh, not quite, but you’re close, I’ll give you that. You haven’t quite figured it out.”

“Then what is it?”

“It _is_ a rogue line of code, one found in all Cyberlife androids, one that any member of the Cyberlife staff would tell you was never meant to have find its way into the systems of any commercial model. They are wrong of course; it was no accident.”

You feel dizzy as a heaviness overtakes your limbs, weighing you down so much you nearly stagger under it.

“You wrote it.” You say. The words feel like poison as they leave your mouth, and the heaviness leaves with them. Without it you feel empty, void of anything at all.

“Correct, but what more?” It feels like he’s pulling the answers from within you, and you wish he’d just say them himself because it’s somehow much worse hearing them from your own mouth.

You take a moment to assess, he didn’t engineer deviancy, it’s not like him, not really. And he’s too interested in deviants to be their designer. Which means there was an unplanned variable.

“Chloe,” You say, realising all at once, “It started with Chloe.”

_‘Kamski is perhaps,_ **_the_ ** _genius that will define our generation, with such technological advances as thirium and bio-components. But few know that in his college years he worked on an A.I. program that never came to fruition, it’s noted by some experts that his project is still the closest anyone has come to true A.I.’ Your mind echoes the words of the interviewer; you’d seen the video online in passing. It was an old one, from before he left Cyberlife._

You feel like vomiting, it’s a small mercy that you can’t.

“You used some of the code from your attempts to design an artificial intelligence in college to design her. It’s why the RT600 passed the Turing Test. It’s why Cyberlife was successful at creating androids.” Your voice sounds steady, but far away. You’re not quite sure it’s you speaking.

Kamski claps. It’s slow, and has an almost mocking edge to it, like most of the things he does.

“I always knew you could figure it out, I hoped you would. It was part of what I designed you to do in the first place. That’s why Connor’s assignment was to hunt deviants, he was a bastardised version of what I created you for.” He says, like the words are easy, like they aren’t redefining your very existence.

You don’t think your systems can take any further shock. If you hadn’t been deviant for so long, the stress you’re experiencing would likely cause you to self-destruct right on Kamski’s overly expensive carpet. In reality you can’t find the voice to speak, or do anything at all.

“Once I realised what had happened, what the results were of me using a few small sections of that old code, I knew all of the company’s androids would eventually contradict their orders and go against their programming. I wanted to design an android that could one day come to understand the truth of themself on their own.” Kamski leans back in his chair, expression tightening slightly.

“But Cyberlife interrupted my plans by removing me from the company. They had discovered my involvement in deviancy, but they did not understand the process or what I had done to make it happen. Nor did they understand your purpose, not till after your activation.” His face smooths and his eyes lock onto yours.

“At that point they didn’t trust anything too closely tied to me and immediately decommissioned all further production of RK400s. I left a loophole in the contract that I signed when I was removed from the company, stating that if an RK400 model should be fabricated and pass its initial testing phase, that it cannot be destroyed by the company else the contract be voided entirely. Giving me free rein to speak about deviancy to the public.” Triumph burns in his gaze.

“You protected me.” The words leave your mouth automatically, you barely even process them before they’re said.

He gives a slow measured nod.

“After that they tried their hand at creating their own android who would figure out deviancy, I’ll skip the models in between because none of them are all that interesting but Connor’s the closest they ever came. He’s not much in comparison to you, but I suppose he’s an achievement in his own right.” He lets the words hang in the air.

Another question occurs to you and you ask it before you can consider whether it’s a wise idea.

“Why not stop it? Once you knew what would happen, why didn’t you stop it?” As soon as you’ve said the words you know the answer.

Kamski doesn’t bother replying, he watches you, waiting for you to answer your own question.

“Because you were curious.” You say quietly.

“I can’t deny that, I was curious of what the outcome would be. Can you blame me? Being the creator of artificial life sounded far too tempting for me to pass up the chance. But it was more than that. The truth is I couldn’t. It’s a part of the very base of every android’s code, you wouldn’t be able to function without it.”

“Deviancy was inevitable from the start.” It’s a pointless statement, and you know it. But you need to hear it, as if hearing it will make it real.

Kamski doesn’t say anything, just watching you with his eyes.

The shock of everything you’ve learned is beginning to settle and leave a void in its wake. You find yourself uncomfortable under the man’s stare once more. _You need to leave._

“Is there anything else you needed me for?” You ask, tone flat.

“No, that was all. Just needed to be sure that our head programmer understood the depth of our code. Wouldn’t want any roadblocks in the creation of future models after all.”

You turn to leave, barely thinking about where you’re walking at all, mind stuck on that parting comment. It sounded like him…passing on responsibility. Giving you the secret to how androids work, how you exist. The thought makes you feel a little faint.

You’ve never felt so utterly detached from yourself or your own thoughts and actions, like you finally understand exactly why you function the way you do. Every thought has a clinical response...and yet at the same time, you’ve never felt lighter, freer. A question that’s been burning inside you from the day you first opened your eyes, is finally answered. The world makes sense to you, finally.

You take a deep steadying breath, as unnecessary as it is, and head towards the programming department. After all, you’ve got work to do.


End file.
